European Documentation Centre

About the European Documentation Centre

European Documentation Centres are neutral collections of official publications of the European Union, open to the public and normally housed in academic libraries throughout the European Union (EU). EDC status entitles the host library to receive one copy free of charge of most significant publications and documents of the EU. The Bodleian Library has been an EDC since 1963.

Of course the free world wide web (internet) has subsequently become the quickest and most effective tool for accessing current EU publications. Indeed, in 2016, some EU publications are only published digitally now. The EU's own website Europa, can be difficult to navigate, and so you may find it easier just to carry out an internet search using a search engine, such as google, bing, or duckduckgo.

Location

The EDC is on the ground floor of the Bodleian Law Library, near the Official Papers Collection. It has its own classification scheme.

The EDC collection

The EDC contains the official publications of the European Communities:

Legislation*

Treaties, regulations, directives, decisions

Proposals for new legislation

Documents generated during the legislative process

European Parliament debates - now only on-line

The case law of the European Court of Justice

* Much of this material is also available in the Euro Comm section of the Bodleian Law Library, which is a strong collection on the law of the European Union.

Reports

Commission reports on all aspects of the EU

Council reports on institutional matters

European Parliament reports

Statistics

General statistics; economy and finance

Population and social conditions

Energy and industry

Agriculture, forestry and fishery

Foreign trade

Services and transport

Environment

miscellaneous

Journals

Journals and newsletters are filed at the end of each subject division.

Finding material

The EU's own website Europa, can be difficult to navigate, and so you may find it easier just to carry out an internet search using a search engine, such as Google. If you find internet references to documents, without full text availability online, use SOLO to locate paper copies of items received in the EDC since 1988; pre-1988 material can be accessed via a card title catalogue.

If you are searching for older material, you may find indexing methods within individual publications, e.g. the Official Journal (OJ) poor. Many important items appear in issues of periodicals, which are not indexed separately. If you are looking for something in the Official Journal try using a database first, to get an OJ reference.

General subject access, using statistics, and answering broad policy questions using the EDC publications can be difficult. The classification system is different from that used in the Bodleian Law Library, and is listed on the end of the shelves in the EDC, and on a separate handout. Although broadly arranged by subject, the multi-disciplinary approach may make browsing unsuccessful. If you have any problems in finding material, please ask - it is likely to save you a lot of time.

Reference material

There is a small collection of reference material in the EDC by the seating area, which is mainly bibliographical. It contains some good handbooks and directories, e.g. Vacher's European Companion (shelved at EDC/EC.8.8), books on the Single Market and the European Parliament. Other materials about the EU, including general periodicals, are kept in the Euro Comm section of the Bodleian Law Library, and elsewhere in the Bodleian Library. You can identify them via the online catalogue SOLO, and most (with the exception of open access materials in other Reading Rooms) may be ordered up to the Bodleian Law Library.

The following resources will help you to identify and trace further relevant material.

Jeffries, J, A guide to the official publications of the European Communities. Covers the period up to the end of 1979. EDC / EC.1.42

Thomson, I The documentation of the European Communities: a guide. This continues coverage to early 1988. EDC / EC.1.5

For general information on the EU and for access to recent documents, use the links from the EU's own server Europa: http://www.europa.eu

Useful documents

Europedia - website based on Moussis' Access to EU law, economics, policiesLisbon Treaty - consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union